1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices and processes that aid in the design and/or the permit process involved with constructing a fire suppression system.
2. Related Art
It is well known that kitchens for commercial establishments, such as restaurants and hotels, are subject to local and state regulations and laws that impact the overall design of the kitchens. For example, local and state regulations generally require a sufficient fire suppression system be in place in a commercial kitchen before the kitchen can be operated.
In the past, the process for designing and constructing a commercial kitchen was often inefficient and time consuming. For example, the process often involved initially measuring the dimensions of the room in which the kitchen was to be installed. After the measurements were completed, they would be sent off site to a designer who would design a footprint for the room in accordance with the requirements of the local and/or state authorities empowered to regulate the design of a commercial kitchen. The designing process would be done manually by a draftsman either via drawing on paper or by using a CAD program. After the design was completed, it was then sent to a supplier who would provide an estimate of the materials needed to construct the kitchen per the design. Next, the materials would be ordered per the estimate of materials. The passing off of the design to multiple entities often resulted in significant delays in the design process.
Another inefficiency in prior design processes was that local and/or state authorities would require a drawing of the kitchen to be submitted for approval prior to construction could begin. Since the approval process often took a long amount of time, the drawings were often submitted at an early stage in the development process. The submitted drawings were often rejected for not being in the proper format. Even if the drawings were approved, the cooking staff was often not consulted prior to the submission of the drawings and, thus, they would require changes to the design that would necessitate the submission of a new set of drawings to the regulatory authorities.
Another problem with the above-mentioned design process was that it did not lead to uniformity in the design of commercial kitchens. For example, a hotel chain may have a commercial kitchen in each of its establishments. In the past, each kitchen may have been designed independent of each other. If it was desired that the kitchens were to have substantially the same dimensions and components, there was no common design for a kitchen. Accordingly, each kitchen was designed from scratch without regard to past designs. Thus, time and effort was wasted in redesigning each kitchen.